My Netherlands Trip

03.04.2010 to 04.04.2010

This time my trip was from Bonn (Germany) to The Netherlands. I took DB Bahn (regional trains of Germany) from Bonn on Cologne. A regular local ticket from Bonn to cologne will work here. We were group of four so we have taken day ticket for five which cost 21.50 euro(separate ticket per person is 6.50 euro). It takes 30 mins to reach to cologne. For timetable of these trains please visit DB Bahn website.
I booked my ICE train from DB bahn office in Bonn. A reservation from office costed me 4.50 euro - one way extra.You can book the ticket online and get it in 2.50 euro reservation cost but you should use your credit card which you must carry with you during journey or you can use online banking but you should be registered for that and this may takes 2-3 weeks to get registered.My train was at 8:46 and I reached to amsterdam centraal station at 11:25. We went to tourist office which is located in front of the station (a bord of iamsterdam outside easily visible). People in Netherlands speaks English so Language is not a problem if you speak English. We took token and wait for half hour for our turn in the office. The lady on counter was very friendly. We wanted to go to Keukenhof (Tulip Gardens is the other famous name of this place) on first day. We have taken a pass which combines journey from Schiphol to Keukenhof and return. This pass costed us 21 euro/person.

Amsterdam to Keukenhof (Tulip Gardens):

We have taken train fom Amsterdam Centraal station to Schiphol Airport. This ticket cost was 3.80 euro/person(7.00 Euro if you want to retrun back the same day). The frequency of trains from Amsterdam centraal to Schiphol is very good. You can find more about timetable and cost on NS website. You can book your tickets from automatic machines by credit/debit card or by coins( notes does not work).Other way is to book from their service office (available on station) by paying 0.50 euro extra/ticket who accepts cash. The journey time was approx 15 mins. The trains station is underground to airport terminal. So we came to ground floor by elevators (or lift). As we come out of airport terminal building, there are bus stops visible clearly. Bus number 58 will take us to Keukenhof (Bus has written keukenhof outside).The company which runs it is Connexxion. Entrance is only allowed from front gate. We showed tickets to driver and he punched the stamp on that.The travel time to keukenhof is 40 mins approx. We already have pass so no need to buy entrance ticket now. There is a luggage room after entrance gate which is free of cost.We need to place 1 euro coin and we get it back once retrun.We went anti clock wise direction and covered the garden. Maps are available and you can select you prefered route to visit garden. The Tulips were not blooming fully all around so we get litle disappointed and thought we could have come here after 2 weeks. But there is a greenhouse which has exibition of Tulips of various variaties. As soon as we enter it, we were mesmerized by the beauty of Tulips.Now we understood why this place is so famous.The color,look and variety of Tulips are amazing. Meanwhile If you forget the retrun path from anywhere in garden then you can follow the red carpet (a path painted with red color) and reach to entrance back. We spent 5 hours in garden. Garden was closing at 7:30 and last bus back to Schiphol was at 7:08 so we fortunately caught last bus.

Tulip Fields

Tulip Exibition at keukenhof

Night Stay

I booked my hotel near to airport which was Citizen M. The location of hotel is very near from Airport terminal (4 mins approx) and I feel it very comfortable. The hotel has computerized check-in means I need to check-in and check-out at my own. Hotel staff is friendly and helped me. The hotel accepts Maestro Credit card or a debit card from Netherlands. For other card types, 2.50 euro extra is to be payed. The Hotel is very modern and innovative. I was with family(of 2 persons) and find the rooms less comfortable. But I must praise the innovation and design. After getting fresh, you may go back to Schipol airport terminal which has so many shops and you can do shopping, window shopping or even can have cup of coffee.

The Next Day- Madurodam Trip

We planned to go to Madurodam the next day. It is a place where we can see all major attractions of The Netherlands in miniature form which is reduced to a scale of 1:25. We took NS train from Schiphol to Den Haag HS station (Den Haag Central will also work). It costs us 7.60 Euro/person and a journey of approx 30 mins. We started at 9:30 and reached by 10:00. Coming out side is the ticket counter where we asked for a local tram ticket to Madurodam. Tram number 9 took us to Madurodam in approx 20 mins.It was a return ticket and cost was 2.60 euro. We need to validate the ticket from yellow machines in tram while entry and while return. Madurodam is visible as soon as you come out of tram. We purchased entrance ticket which cost us 14.50 Euro/person. Ticket counter will give you a guide book which explains how you should visit the place. All the miniatures are place in a large open area.The place is very nice and creativity is spreaded all arround. The skill and efforts are visible. We are very happy and impressed. This place is very interesting for kids and people young at heart.We faced a challenge of weather.It was cold and little windy so felt some uncomfort. After three and half hours, we came out and took tram 9 back to Den Haag central station. We purchased ticket from ticket machine and get the NS train to Amsterdam centraal.It cost us 10.20 Euro/person and approx 52 minutes to reach Amsterdam centraal. We reached at arround 15:30. From here we came out and took a Canal Cruise.

Madurodam Miniatures

The Canal Cruises

These canal cruises are available from outside centraal station. We took 1 hour ride and the cost was 13:00 euro/person. The cruise will be guided by a recorded machine and pilot will give you hints at certain buildings of importance. The visit was nice and we were able to see old Amsterdam.

 The Return Trip

Our retrun ICE train was at 6:35. We were comfortably managed to reach on time.We reached at Cologne arround 21:20 and took a DB train to Bonn at 21:35.